Growing a Church vs. Reaching a City

Lots of pastors are trying to grow a church.  It sounds ambitious and exciting, but it's actually kind of insignificant, not to mention outside of your calling.

Do you want to grow something?  Grow a business.  Grow a garden.  Grow a beard. Grow your financial portfolio.  But growing a church can't be the reason why you do what you do!

Despite the entrepreneurial sound, church growth is a pretty lame goal.  It's a small vision.  It should be secondary to why you do what you do.  Church growth as an end is too narrow and small minded.

Reaching a city, on the other hand, is big!  That's exciting!  That's a vision that people will laugh at (and if someone isn't laughing at the size of your vision, it's probably because it's too small!)

One of the main differences in church growers and people that want to Reach a City is their mindset towards each other.  

It's Competition vs. Same Team.

Church growers don't like other churches.  They view them as competition.  They think as long as other churches are succeeding, growing, and receiving the blessings of God, then there are fewer people that could be attending THEIR church.  When another pastor succeeds or another church grows, they get jealous.  They are more interested in drawing a crowd than reaching people that don't know Jesus.

Churches that want to Reach their City are different.  They understand that it's going to take more than one church to accomplish a vision of that magnitude.  When other churches succeed, they rejoice knowing that the vision of reaching the city is being accomplished.  All of the growth and success doesn't have to happen at their particular church to be legitimate.  These churches are focused on people far from God meeting Jesus.

To Reach a City, you have to pull the scope back.  You have to stretch your mission and vision.  Success has to be bigger than just your people, your church, your building, your small groups, and your service opportunities.

When your mindset changes, your impact will expand.  The early Church in the New Testament was associated with reaching the entire city!  There was no Main Street Community Church or North Side Church.  Instead, it was the Church in Rome; the Church in Ephesus, Colosse, and Galatia; the Church in Philippi, Corinth, and Thessalonica.  The mindset was reaching the city, not growing a congregation.

So which would you rather do?